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Onions on the highway


In the last days of Summer, when Autumn breezes are visiting the mornings, is when harvesting is at its peak. I love to see the fields changing from plain dirt to a lush green blanket or tall, amber stocks. This journey of harvesting is very new to me. Before moving to Middleton, I was raised in the seaside city of Santa Monica and then moved to the arid desert of Las Vegas. Neither one of these cities offer much opportunity to actually see the humble beginnings of vegetables.
My first year in Middleton during Autumn, as I drove to work with the windows down, I became aware of a piercing aroma in the morning air. I went through a mental checklist to identify this and the closest I could come up with was cooking onions in a meatless stew.
What??
I was nowhere near a restaurant and couldn't imagine someone’s private kitchen would be emitting this heavy but delicious aroma.
As I drove further down the road, I saw scattered along the side of the highway onions.  Some still were encased in their golden skins, while others were denuded and splintered.   I couldn't believe it, but there was the proof. For a split second, I thought of pulling to the side of the road and picking up the freebies. I quickly thought against it as I saw the speeding cars and semi-trucks whizzing by.  I smiled to myself as I drove past the mini harvest, watching the crackling, amber onion skins catch the breeze.

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